Monday, April 10, 2017

The Enemies of Versailles by Sally Christie

Historical Fiction

In the third and final book in the Versailles/Louis XV trilogy, this time we look at two women from King Louis XV's last years. The first is his final mistress, the Comtesse du Barry, who started out as a luxury escort. She makes friends with the right people and is eventually presented to the king. Not surprisingly the court hates her not only because she's an escort but also because she's a commoner. The second is Louis' eldest daughter Adelaide. She is an extremely rigid woman and doesn't have a very good relationship with her father because she hasn't approved of any of his mistresses.

The two women are completely different, likely why they were both selected for this book, and it really highlights the extremes that existed in the French court. Christie does a great job of showing how tone deaf French royalty was during this time, which eventually brought their demise. Obviously all these years later, in a much more advanced society, it's easy to see the errors of their ways but I wonder if it would have been easy to understand back then. This book actually made me want to read more on the French Revolution.

Having read Christie's other two books in the trilogy (read my reviews for The Rivals of Versailles and The Sisters of Versailles), even though these characters were unique from all the other ladies highlighted in Christie's books, I found them somewhat less captivating.

It's still a worthy read - you should definitely check out all three books! It gives you great insight in to some of the more periphery characters of the Louis XV reign. You can buy the book here: Amazon

First Line: "I slip away from the warmth of the kitchen and out into the deserted hall."

Rating: (4/5)

About the Author

Sally Christie is a long time history buff. She has lived in England, Canada, Argentina, and Lesotho though she currently resides in Toronto (and hence, I'm claiming Canadian author here!). The Sisters of Versailles is her first book even though she's been putting pen to paper for a while. Learn more at her website, Facebook, or GoodReads.

About Me

Thanks for visiting! I'm Lauren (Hoser) and have been blogging books since 2006 from Ontario, Canada. I shared this blog with my mom (AceofHearts) until 2013 when she lost her battle with cancer and now continue to carry on this blog in her memory.

My favourite types of books are ones that can't really be defined any better than general fiction. You'll see me reading a lot of mystery, historical fiction, and some non-fiction as well.